Uxbridge volunteers are called to step up to the sleigh

Oshawa This Week

The rain threatens to fall on the annual Uxbridge Santa Claus Parade.

With politicians currently crunching numbers to set the 2013 budget and property tax rate, Township department heads have been stepping forth with their budgetary wish lists for the year, outlining the needs, wants, and critical items it will take to keep the municipality running smoothly. Against this backdrop, Angela Horne, organizer of the Uxbridge Santa Claus Parade for the past seven years, has requested council double the parade budget and provide an extra $5,000 to $8,000.

The money is intended to compensate volunteers for the hours they spend organizing the annual attraction, hours Ms. Horne estimates grow to 20 a week from August to the November parade date, as she works to make the parade a success. Ms. Horne says organizing the parade is a one-woman show, and Township CAO Ingrid Svelnis counts three parade volunteers, but either way it seems there aren't many elves pitching in when it comes to getting ready for Santa's annual visit to Uxbridge.

There's no doubt Ms. Horne works very diligently, for long hours, to bring Uxbridge the best parade possible every year, and the community owes her, and everyone who helps shape the annual parade, a debt of gratitude. The community would be much less than it is without the dedication of its volunteer corps. But asking the Township to start compensating its volunteers with taxpayers' money is opening the door to a dangerous precedent.

The better solution, as some councillors have apparently realized, is to put the call out for more volunteers to step up and lend a hand organizing the centre-piece event to Uxbridge's festive season. Township staff will now begin to approach community groups to see if there are more willing hearts and hands available.

Uxbridge volunteers, with Ms. Horne among them, already do so much to enhance the community. The needs of Santa Parade organizers provide another opportunity for citizens to join the ranks of those community volunteers, and lend their expertise, talents and time where they can.

If the call for more volunteers should somehow go unanswered, then council will have to take a careful look at establishing an honorarium for the parade co-ordinator -- in effect, agreeing to Ms. Horne's request. The amount of work and time it takes to organize an annual parade of this magnitude is substantial, and Uxbridge councillors are fully cognizant of that.